Newcomer Steve Nash was diagnosed with a small non-displaced fracture of his left fibula and will be out at least another week, costing him games for sure against Detroit, at Utah and against Golden State.

Nash was hurt when he got tangled up with Portland point guard Damian Lillard on Wednesday night and got kneed in the side of the leg. He tried to return later in the game, but the leg gave out on him, and he sat out the loss to the Clippers on Friday night that dropped the Lakers to 0-3.

They beat the unimpressive Detroit Pistons, 108-79, gladly taking victory Sunday and avoiding their first 0-4 start since 1957.

Dwight Howard had 28 points and Lakers fans could briefly forget the news that Steve Nash might miss up to four weeks because of a small fracture in his left leg.

The Lakers acknowledged publicly that Nash would miss at least one week, but another three weeks could ultimately be tacked onto that assessment in a worst-case scenario, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Nash, however, tried to be optimistic, hoping for a return next week.

"You never know, right?" he said as he left the locker room. "It's up to Mother Nature….I guess anything's possible."